Post 1 Choices

I am excited to begin this blog. I am currently on an "open-ended" Sabbatical in Washington, Missouri. I have been here since the middle of August and continue to seek what the Lord may have for me. Today I wanted to begin with a thought or two about choices.

This morning, before church, I caught the end of the movie "The Family Man." If you haven't seen it, it is a bit like an inverse "It's A Wonderful Life." The main character, Nicholas Cage, is a wealthy Wall Street type who has chosen career and status over love. On Christmas Eve he gets the chance to see what his life would have been like if he had made a different choice.

When I came home from church, while grading essays and waiting for the Chiefs' game to begin, I caught the end of the movie "Juno." It, too, is a movie about choices. Juno and her boyfriend choose to allow the baby to live. The woman's husband chooses to leave and she chooses the baby. It is all about choice.

As I thought about these movies, I thought about the choices we make. Joshua, at the end of the book of Joshua, makes it clear to the people. He tells them, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirabale to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:14).

We all have choices to make. I have made many choices, both good and bad. I chose to leave Kansas City and move to Missouri. I chose to leave behind comfort and security. I chose to leave teaching and enter ministry years ago. I have chosen, over the years, to begin and end relationships. The life I now have is a result of the choices I have made. I suppose it is honest to say that I wish I could go back and "re-do" some of those decisions. There are some things I think I would choose to do differently. That possibility, though, exists only in the movies. We can only press ahead. The goal, I think, is to make the choices that God wants us to make. There's the Sunday School answer, huh? But it is true. It is just hard. I would like to think that all of my choices reflect his will. Sadly, though, many times I will seek to cloak my choices in religious garb and act like they were heaven-sent. After all, how can anyone argue with me when I tell them, "this is God's will for my life?" One who is truly seeking the Lord, I think, comes to him humbly and with an open heart and mind. I see God's will for my life more clearly in the template of sharing his plan for me with others and getting their input. That helps sort out what is from Him and what is from me.

I will continue to trust him and will make some choices very soon. I hope the choices I make are his leading and not my own.